What changes have you seen?

Timetrvlr

Timetrvlr

Member
Location
central interior B.C., Canada
Yesterday I was talking to the wife about the many options I'm still discovering in my car and how simple my first car was.

My first car was a 1929 Model A ford sedan without power brakes (purely mechanical brakes), no power steering, only one wiper blade operated with a hand crank, no heater or defroster, and a gas tank at chest level in front of the driver and passenger. On the other hand, it did have a windshield that cranked open from the bottom. Great for ventilation in summer!

Later I had a '39 Chrysler coupe with a windshield washer and two vacuum-operated wipers. They worked fine until you went uphill and they stopped working. That was real progress!

My first modern car was a '64 Pontiac station wagon with all kinds of power things and I was afraid of it; so many things to go wrong!
 

We go to antique and classic car shows as the Spousal Equivalent is a muscle car enthusiast. It's amazing to see the cars of the 50's with their hoods up. Huge engine compartment with what looks like a tiny motor by comparison. It must have been a dream to be able to have access to most parts of the motor. No wonder people were able to work on their cars back then.

I remember an old car my parents had back in the late 40's that had the split windshield that cranked open from the bottom. Our dog liked to jump up on the hood of the car with his rump up against the window, tail swishing through the bottom of the window. He'd ride to the end of the road and then my dad would stop, give him a poke (I don't think the horn worked), he'd jump off the hood and go home as we headed out onto the highway. Reverse gear on the car didn't work, so when we came home, Dad would put it in neutral, get out, Mom would get behind the wheel and Dad would push the car backwards into the driveway so he could head straight out in the morning. Needless to say, parking anywhere was a real problem and had to be dealt with carefully.
 
Only changes I remember in cars since I was a kid was they only had AM radios and no seatbelts.
 

This thread reminded me of my mother. When she was in assisted living a young CNA came in all excited one day and asked her if she was going to the antique car show being held on the grounds that day and my mother said. "No thanks, Honey. I rode in most of em when they were new!"

Those old Fords used to have a wooden stick to measure the amount of gas in the tank, similar to these.

vintage-socony-gas-tank-measuring_1_8ab4afd61e3317f6de9807b0f58a2b86.jpg


The biggest change for me is brakes, traction control, etc... that try to think for me. I hate them! My car and I don't always agree on the best plan of action in difficult situations. Can't wait for the little programmable bubble car that will just take me where I want to go while I read a book or take a nap!
 
Aunt Bea said:
The biggest change for me is brakes, traction control, etc... that try to think for me. I hate them! My car and I don't always agree on the best plan of action in difficult situations.
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I probably shouldn't say this, but when the automatic brake system on my ('97) Ford had a problem (brakes grabbed, but only very rarely), the mechanic just took out the fuse and disabled the whole thing. He said unless he could put a computer on it when it actually happened, and find out which wheel was involved, he would have to replace the mechanism on all 4 wheels. It would have cost a fortune. No problems since.:)

They have probably made it so you can't do that on the newer ones. :(
 
Thousands of improvements. Headlights are much brighter. drum brakes are gone except on the rear of the cheapest model. Cars today will go 2 or 3 hundred thousand miles with proper care. 80 or 90 thousand was the most you were going to get out of any engine. GM actually had a fix for when their small blocks started burning oil. Take a can of scouring powder and pour it slowly into the carb while reving the engine. Little machine shop in a can, polished the cylinder and rings to close the void that had occurred during use.
 
I often think about how much longer tires last today. Of course they are more expensive but the quality is better. I remember my Dad replacing tires often, and of course come winter, we had to put on the snow tires! (Or chains or cleats)
 
As a USC engineering student, I sometimes drove a borrowed 1919 Detroit Electric Car from home to class and back while drawing a lot of attention from other drivers.
 
Remember when we had to crank a handle to get the windows up and down? And that was really important back then, as we had no air conditioning.
 
I miss the vent windows. They were so much nicer to open up and let some air in, than nowadays where you have to lower the whole window some and having the street noise in your ear.
 
Sunny said:
Remember when we had to crank a handle to get the windows up and down? And that was really important back then, as we had no air conditioning.
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I remember, I still have them!!!

Gemma said:
I miss the vent windows. They were so much nicer to open up and let some air in, than nowadays where you have to lower the whole window some and having the street noise in your ear.
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Another vote for vent windows, I hate the water coming in when I need to crack the window on rainy days!!!
 
Hi Susie: As a brand new member, reminiscing, I did mention the many, mostly good, changes occurring over the years, including my dad having to tinker with our darn 1927 Essex
car before going for a Sunday breakfast at one of LA's then wonderful "Bob's Big Boys" restaurants. Where did you grow up and sometimes get to go out for breakfast?
 
Aunt Bea said:
I remember, I still have them!!!

Another vote for vent windows, I hate the water coming in when I need to crack the window on rainy days!!!
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I still have the roll up windows on my '96 Jeep Cherokee, and on my '92 Dodge truck, and the vent windows. :D
 
Rightbob said:
Hi Susie: As a brand new member, reminiscing, I did mention the many, mostly good, changes occurring over the years, including my dad having to tinker with our darn 1927 Essex
car before going for a Sunday breakfast at one of LA's then wonderful "Bob's Big Boys" restaurants. Where did you grow up and sometimes get to go out for breakfast?
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Thank you, Rightbob, for your reply!
Also welcome to this forum, hope you enjoy your time here!
In answer to your question about "breakfast", can't remember ever "going out" for breakfast.
While growing up in S.F., Cal., my parents were so poor, I was lucky to get a peanut butter sandwich.
Later, when living with Grandparents in N. Germany, going out for breakfast was unheard of.
 
Thank you for your nice reply, including your comment that you lived several years in North Germany. I was born in the Weissensee suburb of Berlin (!) to Russian born parents who met, dated, and got married in Berlin in the early 1920's, my mother becoming a quite famous classical pianist while my father earned college engineering master's degrees and then became a maker of household vacuum cleaners (think "Electrolux") so that they were well off until the Nazis came to power and we were able to escape to the US and they reestablished their careers.

It's gotten quite late now, so I hope to have you tell me about yourself so that we can get better acquainted. In the meantime, "Auf Wiedersehen" Rightbob (really "Bob")
 

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